Feeding mechanism for metal-cutting shears.



V. E. EDWARDS. mmm; MEcHANlsM Foa Mem cuT APPLICATION FILED NOV. 241914.

Patented June 5,1917.

TING SHEARS.

O O OOO 12655615 nue/7? 0U FEEDIn MEcHANrsM ron METAL-crimine simens.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented June 5, 19T?.

Application led November 24, 1914. Serial No. 873,816.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VIC/ron E. EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States,residing at orcester, in the county of Worcester and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in FeedingMechanism for Metal-Cutting` Shears, of which the following, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

he present invention relates to a feeding mechanism for metal cuttingshears, adapted to submit a plurality of bars simultaneously to theaction of the shear whereby successive shearing operatlons, eachresulting in the production of a plurality of pieces of predeterminedand equal length, are eiiected.

In multiple shearing operations, as heretofore practised in connectionwith hot rolling mills, it has been customary to roll long bars and tofeed them consecutively across a cooling bed. After thus being cooled,the bars are assembled side by side until the desired number areobtained. This group of bars is then transferred either sidewise orendwise to a front shear table, and the bars are then cut in multiple tothe desired length.

A cooling bed suiliciently generous to cool the bars to atmospherictemperature, lis of course impracticable. The bars must be cut while yetquite warm or even hot," and in every high tonnage mill a large numberof bars must be cut at once in order to keep clear of the mill. ForAexample, it is common practice to cut from twenty to thirty small barsat once. These bars are rolled two or three per minute, so that the bariirst rolled in the group to be sheared may have ten or fteen minutesmore cooling than the last bar in said group.` On a small and overworkedcooling bed there might not be more than twenty or thirty'bars, so thatunder the above not uncommon conditions, the last bar of the group wouldhave had not over half the cooling time of the first bar of the group.Consequently, the shrinkage after cutting is not constant, and cannot beallowed for, or in other words, while the pieces are all of uniform,length when cut, they are far from uniform length when cooled to normaltemperature. he present -invention contemplates a partially i markedimprovement, by so feeding the bars to the shears that each bar shallhave the Same time interval for cooling.' In other words, the presentinvention permits multiple shearing without the intervention of,

i an assembling table.

and the objections to,

In the accompanying drawings, the figure embodiment of such is a planview of one amechanism, shown in connection with any well known type offlying shear which is of sufficient width to receive a plurality ofbars, the showing of said shear being wholly diagrammatic; it is to beunderstood, however, that my invention is not limited to the particularmechanism shown and described, but is susceptible of variation from thesame, within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

In the said figure, the numeral l represents the iinal or finishing passof a continuous rolling mill, adapted for the continuous reduction ofbillets or the like, to bars of a desired cross section. Each bar, as itemerges from said mill, is received upon a hot run-out7 or conveyerQ, ofordinary construction, and is immediately transferred sidewise from saidhot-run, by any of the well-known devices for thispurpose, to make roomfor the next succeeding bar. As hot run-outs, and means for dischargingthem broadside, are old and well known, and as the same form no art "ofthe present invention, the details ofp this hot run-out and itsdischarging mechanism are omittedA to avoid confusion.

Beneath said run-out 2 are disposed a plurality of conveying rolls 4, 4,constituting a broadside transfer mechanism, said rolls having theiraxes parallel to each other, and at an acute angle to the axial line ofthe bars deposited thereon from the hot run-out. At their correspondingends these rolls 4 carry gears 5 which mesh with spaced a common shaft 7driven from a motor 8. ,This motor may be run either continuously orintermittently, and needs to run only fast enough to move each barsidewise on the rolls 4 the distance of its own the next bar isdeposited thereon. The action of the rolls 4,' 4 is to impart to thebars a combined forward and lateral motion, as will be clearlyunderstood from an inspection of the figure. The result of such actionis two-fold; the longitudinal component gears 6 on width, before Afromthe neXt succeeding leave the rolls 4, 4 of the broadside transfermechanism. The

rolls 10 are skewed in the same direction, but to a lesser degree, thanthe rolls 4, and are rotated usually intermittently, at a considerablyhigher rate of speed than said rolls4, through pinions 11, meshing withgears 12 on a common shaft 13, driven by a motor 14. Due to the veryslight skewing of the rolls 10, the broadside movement of said bars isslower than that imparted by the rolls 4, with the result that the gapsbetween successive bars become closed, as the same are advanced towardth'e shear 9, as clearly shown in the figure.

Means are preferably provided for cropping the advancing end of eachbar, as it is moved forward by the rolls 10 between the shear knives;and it is essential to the eiicient operation of the present mechamsmthat such short crop end be removed by the same operation of the shearwhich from the other bars cuts full length pieces To this end, I proonthe approach table.

vide means for stopping each bar after its first end has been vmovedafew theshear knives.

inches past Such means is shown as consisting of an end stop 15, movablehorizontally from the rear by means of a lever 16, but it is 'to beunderstood that any other means, capable of bringing the bar to a stopafter its advancing end projects a given distance beyond the shearknives, may be employed. of each other bars on the approach table tomove forwardly without interruption against the usual shear stop, orgage, not shown. The subsequent operation of the shear effects theremoval of the crop end simultaneously with the cutting of pieces of thedesired length from each of the other bars on the table. The stop 15 maybe disposed at a fixed distance, say six inches, in advance of the shearkmves, but preferably it is mounted for ad- ]ustment toward and fromsaid knives.

The combined result of the operation of the broadside transfer and ofthe approach table is to advance the bars continuously toward the shearin overlapped or shing relation, as clearly shown in the figure. Theskew of the shear approach vtable roll 10 is such that a line from theback end of the roll paths are the same The stop 15 engages the rst end.fresh bar, while permitting all theledshear blades nearest the broadsidetransfer,

effective portion of the end of the shear knives. Hence i while its rearend is operated upon by the eifective portion of the shear bladesfarthest from the broadside transfer. Each full length bar thus makes acomplete traversing movement across the shear .kmves during its periodof shearing, in which the shear knives are caused to operateintermittently, at predetermined intervals, as w11l be clearlyunderstood. The paths of all the bars are identical, from the time theyleave the finishing pass of the mill; and periods of time consumed forthe traverse of said in thecase of each bar. Consequently, lessdifference exists in the shrinkage of pieces cut off from different barsby the multiple operation of the shear than in multiple shearingoperations heretofore practised.

I claim,

1. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with ashear, of means for feeding bars, in multiple, to said shear, comprisinga plurality of series of conveyer rolls, having .their axes skewed withrespect to the aXes of the bars advanced thereon, the rolls of oneseries being skewed at a diderent angle from the rolls of anotherseries. a 2. In apparatus of the character described, the combinationwith a shear, of means for feeding bars, in multiple, to said shear,comprisingv an initial anda final series 4of conveyer rolls having theiraxes skewed with respect to the axes of the bars advanced thereon, therolls of the final series having a less skew than the rolls of theinitial series.

' 3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with ashear, of means for feeding bars, in multiple, to said shear, comprisinghaving their axes at an oblique angle to the axes of the bars advancedthereon, whereby a combined endwise and sidewise movement is imparted to.each bar, and means for delivering bars broadside to said rolls.

4. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shear, ofa shear approach table to which successive bars are delivered broadside,said table comprising` a series Opf/skewed rolls, whereby the broadsidemovement of the bars is continued, in conjunction with in overlappingrelation toward the shear.

5. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a shear, ofa shear approach table to which successive bars are delivered broadside,said table comprising a series of skewed rolls, and means for rotatingsaid rolls at a speed so related to the saI their longitudinal movement,v

speed of broadside delivery that a plurality of bars, in overlappingrelation, are continuously advanced thereon.

' In apparatus of the character describe the combination with a shear,of means for feeding bars in multiple to said shear, said feeding meanscomprising a series of conveyer rolls having their aXes skewed withrespect to the axes of the bars advanced thereon, a second series ofconveyer rolls for delivering bars successively to sald rst series,therolls of the second seshear approach table bars are delivered broadside,means for whereby a plurality of bars are fed, in mulries being skewedat a greater angle than the rolls of the first series, and means forrotating the rolls of the first series at a higher speed than the rollsof the second series.

7. The combination with a broadside transfer mechanism having means forimparting a combined endwise and sidewise movement to successivelongitudinally fed bars, of a shear approach table having means forvcontinuing the combined endwise and sidewise movement of the barsdelivered thereto by said broadside transfer mechanism, said shearapproach table comprising means for increasing the endwise component ofsaid movement. 4

8. The combination, with a shear, of a to which successive feeding saidbars longitudinally in multiple to said shear, and simultaneously movingthem broadside across said table, and means for interrupting the forwardmovement of each fresh bar received on said table, whereby the operationof the shear removes the crop end of said bar.

9. The' combination with transfer mechanism for bined a broadsidelmpartlng a comendwlse and s1dew1se movement to component of successivelongitudinally fed bars, of a shear approach table for continuing thecombined endwise and sidewise movement of the bars delivered thereto bysaid broadside transfer mechanism, said shear approach table comprisingmeans for decreasing the sidewise component of saidmovement.

l0. The combination with a broadside transfer mechanism bined endwiseand sidewise movement to successive longitudinally fed bars, of a shearapproach table for continuing the combined endwise and sidewise movementof the bars delivered thereto by said broadside transfer mechanism, saidshear approach table comprising means for increasing the endwise saidmovement, and for decreasing the sidewise component of said movement.

11. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with ashear, of means for moving successive longitudinally fed bars, insimilar by a combined endwise and sidewise 'movement, whereby each baris offset longitudinally and laterally from the next preceding bar, andmeans for increasing the endwise paths, toward said shear,

for imparting a comcomponent and decreasing the sidewise component ofsaid movement, as. each bar is brought into alinement with the shear,tiple, and in overlapping relation, to said shear.

Dated this twenty-first day of November 1914.

4VICTOR E. EDWARDS.

